The blog contains articles by the author which appear in various newspapers in Kashmir and are also available on the website: www.kashmirfirst.com

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Gulmarg Ski Resort

(Even though quite
well known as a Tourist Resort, the existing Skiing facilities need urgent
upgradation for it to qualify on International standards as a Ski Resort)

At the moment
Gulmarg is the most popular tourist resort in spite of the uncertain and fluid
political conditions in the valley. Notwithstanding various sudden upheavals,
Gulmarg has continued to attract tourists. However, it has always been more
attractive to winter sports enthusiasts especially skiers from within the
country and abroad. Before the departure of the British from India, Gulmarg was
the most popular and fashionable resort both in summer and winter. In fact, the
winter sports especially Skiing started in Gulmarg almost at the same time as
it grew popular in Europe as a sport. The Ski Club of India was established in 1927 by Major Hadow
and Major Metcarp with B N Peston Ji who was designated as its first Secretary.
A number of tournaments were introduced. These included the famous Lilywhites
Cup. Lilywhites was a big sports firm in London. The firm continues its
existence even now in the famous Piccadilly Square of London! There were many
other trophies. Some of the ridges also had British names like the “Merry
Shoulder”, a very good ski slope from Apharwat downwards. All the competitions
were held at Khilanmarg. The pony track to Khilanmarg was kept open throughout
the winter. Most of the rush used to be at Christmas and Easter events. In 1938
it is reported that the attendance on the Christmas Event at Khilanmarg was
500.

Unfortunately, the
departure of the British virtually killed the skiing part of Gulmarg. The only
skiing was done by the Army’s High Altitude Warfare School to train troops for
winter warfare. The sport was rekindled in mid-sixties of the last century by
the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India by starting a Winter Sports
Project. The first batch of instructors was trained in the Ski School under the
supervision of some expert skiers from abroad. The first batch of the National
Ski Instructors who became part of the Indian Institute of Skiing and
Mountaineering (which was set up in late sixties), trained thousands of skiers
from all over the country. The State also set up a School under the Department
of Youth and Sports. Thus Gulmarg once again started developing as a ski
resort. However, in the meanwhile the skiing facilities and standards had gone
ahead in various ski resorts all over Europe and other places. In contrast,
Gulmarg did not receive equal attention but continued to be famous summer
resort for Golf and leisure tourists.

In 1987, after the
visit of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi accompanied by the then Chief
Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah, it was decided to set up a Gondola lift to the
Apharwat Mountain to make available the world famous ski slopes. Due to the
turmoil of nineties the Gondola remained half-complete but was finally
commissioned after some years. However, instead of skiing, the Gondola lift to
the top became a greater attraction for summer day visitors to Gulmarg.
Actually it has earned many times the original cost of its installation! Unfortunately,
the main attraction of Gulmarg, the excellent ski slopes got neglected and
Gulmarg mostly remained a summer attraction.

According to some
experts from European Ski Resorts, Gulmarg is capable of holding many
international level races. The Beta slope above Khilanmarg is ideal for holding
the “Kilometre Carree” (the fastest kilometre) race an important global event
held in France. All other international races can be held on the Apharwat
slopes. Had attention been paid to the development of various ski facilities,
Gulmarg could have been an ideal location for holding Asian Winter Games. In
fact, a bid for the same was made in late eighties but had to be withdrawn
after the turmoil of the nineties.

The first and
foremost requirement is the homologation of the Apharwat and other ski slopes
by FIS (International Ski Federation). Those people have visited Gulmarg a
couple of times and asked for certain measures which remain unfulfilled. To
become a real International level ski resort Gulmarg needs certain important
measures to be taken in various fields. First are the slopes which need to be
prepared on international specifications and then homologated. It will need
avalanche control measures and international level ski patrol and rescue
service. Once various facilities on international standards are developed in
collaboration with some developed ski resorts of Europe, Gulmarg can be an
important global destination for skiers. People may even forget its summer
influx of mostly day visitors usually coming for Gondola rides.

Proper development of
Gulmarg as an international level ski resort will open up the entire “White
Gold” of Kashmir. As the Arabs have the “Black Gold”, the oil, similarly
Kashmir has the “White Gold”, the snow on its mountains! The Pir Panjal Range
could easily be home to a dozen ski resorts like Gulmarg. There are millions of
skiers in Europe, America and other places looking for newer resorts. The
possibilities of winter sports like skiing, cross country skiing, mountain
skiing, heli-skiing are immense in Kashmir. Incidentally, the number of skiers
in Europe is in millions. Germany has 14.6 million, France has 8.6 million, UK
has 4.9 million and Italy has 4.9 million. All other countries have in the
range of 2 to 3 million skiers. It is a huge market! If we have the world class
facilities for skiing and also standard accommodation and other facilities, we
can attract millions of skiers who are desperately looking for new areas. We
could even have charters coming to Srinagar for skiing at Gulmarg and other resorts
which can be easily developed. In fact, there may be many developers from
abroad interested in collaborating with locals for putting up various
facilities. This aspect needs to be seriously explored. The only requirement is
for the government to honestly and sincerely consider the plan for developing
Gulmarg into an international level ski resort. In fact, once Gulmarg reaches
optimum level of development, there will be many other areas which can follow
suit. Will someone seriously consider such a proposal and explore all the
possibilities?